Myth Adventures in Email
Webmastering with KimBoo York
Nothing beats writers block for inspiring sheer panic in a person. I have looked at a blank screen titled "CompuQueer" for the last hour and nothing has happened. I also painted my nails and played with the cat and talked to the in-laws. All in all, a productive evening.
Not that you care. This column is about being queer and being online, not about my private road to procrastination hell. But still nothing comes to mind to write about. So I do what we all do when bored senseless: read my email.
It's always fun reading my email because I have very gullible friends who always send me "forwards." Just about anyone with an email address will get a forward at one time or another and they are always lots of fun. But they are rarely, if ever, true.
You've read about the million dollar gift Bill Gates will send out if his message gets forwarded one million times, and the horror of the Klingerman virus, and the revenge of Princess Amen-Ra. But have you ever really thought about those stories? Haven't you just once said to yourself, "I wonder if that is true?"
Fortunately, you do not have to live in the dark forever. There are some great Web sites out there whose sole purpose is to catalogue, explain, and debunk these urban myths and legends that get passed around from email box to email box.
Urban Myths <www.urbanmyths.com> is my favorite. It covers a lot of territory and has a great sense of humor. Written in tabloid style, this thrill-a-minute site loves to poke fun at the latest nonsense floating around the web. Urban Myths is focused entirely on debunking and making fun of email forwards, so chances are, you'll find at least one of the letters in your in-box analyzed here. The dreaded Klingerman virus? They debunked it. The Gap clothes giveaway? They debunked it too. And if you did not recognize any of the above references, have yourself a ball by going to the site and reading some of the latest, greatest flim flams ever sent out from a server. After all, I'm positive that you just need to know for sure whether Bill Gates is the Devil or not.
On the other hand, if you have received a very sentimental email about some (child, woman, dog) who is very (ill, poor) and needs (help, money, love, more emails), then I suggest you visit About.com's Net Hoaxes page <urbanlegends.about.com/science/urbanlegends/cs/nethoaxes/index.htm> before you forward the message again or send money. This page is updated frequently and will provide you with the basics you need to figure out what is real, what is fake, and what is just plain dumb. Read through the "Chain Letter Gallery of Terror" and find out the "Anatomy of an Email Hoax," as well as discover important information on which virus alerts are hoaxes and which or not.
Hoaxes are a big part of the whole idea behind forwards and chain letters, and one of the best (and oldest) sites on the Web devoted to debunking them is Don't Spread that Hoax! <www.nonprofit.net/hoax/hoax.html>. As with Urban Myths, half the fun of this site is reading about all the crazy stuff someone out there was stupid enough to fall for. However, it also does a good job of educating you on popular hoaxes and myths. There are even a few that the site claims may not be hoaxes — may actually be the real thing — but there is no conclusive evidence either way (cocaine stuffed babies? Missing women in Minnesota?). Very informative and fun, and won't you rest easier knowing that, honestly, your pet is safe if you use Febreeze as directed?
A more systematic approach has been taken by the Urban Legends Research Center <www.ulrc.com.au>. Both a catalogue and ongoing research project, this site moves out beyond the Internet into the world of myths, legends, ghost stories and more. If you ever thought that maybe the story you heard at that party where everyone drank too much may not be true, this is the place to find out (local gossip excluded, of course).
The mother of all urban legend/myth sites, though, is the archive site of the Alt.Folklore.Urban newsgroup <www.urbanlegends.com>. This site also deals with more than just Internet/email legends, and is very focused on debunking. In fact, you won't actually find any of the legends here, just essays that debunk interesting topics like the Crucified Santa, AIDS Mary or the modem tax. The posters who write for alt.folklore.urban are usually very properly researched in their topic and write well, so it is still a bit of fun to go surfing through the listings. The site even has a whole section devoted to Disney legends!
It may not be easy to figure out what to write about sometimes, but it sure can be fun. Next time you are as bored as I am, check out any of these sites for some excitement, and impress everyone you know with your in-depth knowledge about things that don't even exist! Maybe with some imagination and luck you can find your very own urban myth for the making.
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